Sunday, August 09, 2015

Sunday Post

Conservative Leader
Stephen Harper said today if re-elected he will introduce
legislation that will make it a criminal offence for Canadians to travel
to parts of the world under the control of extremist groups.

"A re-elected Conservative government will designate travel to
places that are ground zero for terrorist activity a criminal offence,"
Harper said Sunday during a security-themed campaign stop in the Ottawa
riding of West-Nepean, during which he also faced renewed questions
about his role in the Mike Duffy scandal.

"We are talking about the most dangerous places on earth, where
governance is nonexistent and violence is widespread and brutal."

The proposed law would apply to certain "declared areas" Harper
said, though he did not name any specific locations. A document provided
to the media by the party said parts of Syria and Iraq would "likely"
be among the first areas to be subject to the travel ban.

Similar laws exist in Australia, which has designated parts of Iraq and Syria as no-travel zones.

Linda McQuaig, a well-known author and the NDP candidate for the riding
of Toronto Centre, told a CBC television panel discussion on Friday that
for Canada to meet its climate change targets, "a lot of the oilsands
oil may have to stay in the ground."

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that the American public rejects
U.S. President Barack Obama’s Iran deal by more than two-to-one. This is
astonishing. The public generally gives the president deference on
major treaties. Just a few weeks ago, a majority supported the deal.

What happened? People learned what’s in it. ...Inspections? Everyone now knows that “anytime, anywhere” —
indispensable for a clandestine program in a country twice the size of
Texas with a long history of hiding and cheating — has been changed to,
“You’ve got 24 days and then we’re coming in for a surprise visit.” New
York restaurants, observed comedian Jackie Mason, get more intrusive
inspections than the Iranian nuclear program.

Snapback sanctions? Everyone knows that once the international
sanctions are lifted, they are never coming back. Moreover, consider the
illogic of President Obama’s argument. The theme of his American
University (AU) speech Wednesday was that the only alternative to what
he brought back from Vienna is war, because sanctions — even the more
severe sanctions that Congress has been demanding — will never deter the
Iranians. But if sanctions don’t work, how can you argue that the
Iranians will now be deterred from cheating by the threat of …
sanctions? Snapback sanctions, mind you, that will inevitably be weaker
and more loophole-ridden than the existing ones.

And then came news of the secret side agreements between Iran and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These concern past nuclear
activity and inspections of the Parchin military facility where Iran is
suspected of having tested nuclear detonation devices.

We don’t know what’s in these side deals. And we will never know,
says the administration. It’s “standard practice,” you see, for such
IAEA agreements to remain secret.

Well, this treaty is not standard practice. It’s the most important
treaty of our time. Yet, Congress is asked to ratify this “historic
diplomatic breakthrough” (Obama’s words), while being denied access to
the heart of the inspection regime.

Jihadists stormed two hotels in central Mali on Friday, seizing at
least six hostages and killing three Malian soldiers and a U.N.
peacekeeper in one of the most brazen attacks in months, defence
officials said.

The Islamic militants assaulted one hotel in the town of Sevare, and
then after an exchange of gunfire moved on to the Hotel Byblos next door
where they grabbed between six and 10 people, said Lt. Col. Diarran
Kone.

A shop in South Korea's capital
specializing in goods made in the North has run nearly $140,000 through
its tills in just three months of business, helping dispel the notion
that products from the impoverished state are shoddy and undesirable.

The Kaesong
Industrial Complex Shop opened in May showcasing North Korea and the
skills of its workers, to present the country as a viable business
partner to the prosperous South.

In
February, Pyongyang announced
a minimum “wage” increase of $4-per-month-per-worker. Seoul refused to
accept the increase, told South
Korean firms not to pay it, and threatened those that did with an
unspecified “corresponding
punishment.” For its part, Pyongyang threatened those that didn’t
pay with a
15% “arrears charge.” Some of the South Korean firms (49 out of 124) defied
their own government and paid anyway.

A failed economic venture and a human-rights disaster is still a failed economic venture and a human-rights disaster no matter what department store you put it in.

And now, on this, the seventieth anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, the atomic straw that broke the militaristic Japanese's back, here is a compilation of past posts with some stark photos of the damage the bomb had done but also of a city that rose from the ashes: